


Warrior Two

by shortystylee



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Femslash, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-19 15:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2393249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortystylee/pseuds/shortystylee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a tumblr prompt from roseroadkingsroad: modern AU in which Margaery is a yoga instructor who helps her very uptight student Sansa relax and lose some of her tension.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warrior Two

"I'm serious, mom, you have to do something," Arya began, complaining into the cracked screen of her iPhone and kicking the front door closed, phone held awkwardly between her left shoulder and ear, arms full of groceries that made her curse the sixth floor walk-up that she shared with her older sister.  
  
"Dear, your sister knows how to handle herself, she's used to long hours of studying. There's only two more months left until she takes the bar and then this will be all over."  
  
"Two months? Mom, I swear to the Seven I will kill her in two _days_ if she doesn't get a grip! She's gonna burn herself out. All she does is study - eight hours each weekday with that group class and then it's right back to it when she gets home... She's living off takeout and energy drinks and, well, she's just not the same happy Sansa. I've gotten so much rudeness and snappy remarks... she doesn't even go hang out with Pod and Myrcella after review, not even just for dinner."  
  
"Well, what does Lila say?"  
  
"You don't know? Gods, Mom, Sansa broke up with her a month ago, told her she wouldn't have time to be a good girlfriend this summer," Arya explained as the set the grocery bags down on the kitchen table.  
  
"Alright, Arya, I understand. I'll figure something out..."

Arya head the phone click on her mother's end and swiped the screen on her phone to end the call. _Sure hope Mom comes to the rescue this time_ , she thought, starting to pull out groceries from the canvas Fossoways tote bags. _It's stressing me out to deal with bar-zilla here and I'm not even the one taking the godsforsaken exam._  
  
XxXxX  
Four days later...  
  
"Sansa! There's mail for you today. I put it on the counter," Arya said, closing the apartment door and making a beeline towards the kitchen. Sansa had heard her getting ready this morning, and thought she'd said something earlier about running to the corner for more bread before leaving for work.  
  
"Who's it from?" She asked from her nest on the couch, surrounded by her review books, highlighters, extra large sugar-free Red Bull, and half-eaten family-sized bag of Cheetos.  
  
"Huh? How should I know? I don't look at your mail. Isn't that like a federal offense or some shit?"  
  
"Tampering with mail is but... ugh, you know I don't have time to argue with you about this. I've gotta be ready in ten minutes for when Pod picks me up for bar review."

  
"Whatever. Just take it with you, it's probably bills. Maybe eat some real food for lunch too, eh? It sure as hells looks like you didn't for breakfast," Arya replied, looking out over the kitchen counter into their living room.  
  
 _I would if I had the time, smart ass_ , Sansa thought, sending her a patented Sansa Stark "fuck with me and I'll end you" stare, previously reserved for only when she really meant it, but now this glare was passed out multiple times a day, or when Arya was concerned, multiple times a conversation. "Don't you have work to go to? Cars to fix with that boy of yours?"

  
"Just leaving now, same as every other weekday," she answered, walking out of the kitchen wearing her navy blue coveralls. Normally she rolled her sleeves up past her elbows, but hadn't bothered with that today, instead the front buttons were undone down to the belt, with the top half dangling around her knees, showing off her arms and shoulders in a sleeveless tank, well-muscled from her labor-intensive job at Gendry's shop. In her hands were two lunchboxes, identical except for color.  
  
She'd met him in their first freshman class at KLU, despite that he was five years older, and they had been dating ever since, save for two months of absurd denial and awkward sexual tension. He'd been working in a repair shop and doing odd jobs after high school to save for KLU, when halfway through freshman year recently deceased Robert Baratheon's will left the son he'd never contacted with a substantial inheritance. Most was combined with his savings and used to pay outright for tuition, the rest went to open his own car repair shop after graduation, a lifelong dream. Arya had taken an extra year of school, trudging through dual majors in accounting and graphic design, both of which lent themselves nicely to helping Gendry with the business. Sansa had no delusions, she knew Arya would marry that boy one of these days, when she was good and ready, but for right now she'd just come home each day after work sweaty and smelling like motor oil, with a couple of large grease hand prints on her coveralls.

Sansa waited until Arya had left before she pushed herself off the couch. She had already been awake for a few hours, but quickly changed out of her pajamas and into jeans and a hooded KLU Law sweatshirt. Summers in the capitol were almost always sweltering, but the KLU Law buildings weren't in the main campus, instead they were down by the Harbor, which, because of the winds coming off of the Blackwater, could sometimes be a good fifteen degrees cooler than in the city center.  
  
Pod was right on time to pick her up, as usual, having already stopped on his way to pick up Myrcella as well as some coffee and donuts from Hot Pie's. This morning's review class was that same as it was each day, short break in the middle of the morning, and then lunch around noon. The three of them usually caught a quick lunch from one of the many food carts that parked in the Harbor business district around lunchtime, laying in wait for hungry executives, or in this case, haggard 25 year olds that were more likely to decide they wanted frozen yogurt and waffle fries for lunch. Myrcella and Pod had walked off to grab lunch, buying for Sansa since she paid the other day, and she was looking through her back pack when she came up with the handful of mail that Arya had brought in that morning.

Might as well look through this now, you've got a few minutes before lunch arrives, she thought to herself. "Let's see... catalog... Fossaway's coupons... No, not switching insurance on my cars, thanks, though..." she said aloud to herself, shuffling through the mail, until she got to a real envelope. Not one of those envelopes with the little clear plastic address window so you immediately know it's a bill. A real pastel pink envelope, with a real stamp, return address from... Mrs. Catelyn Stark. _That's weird. Mom just called me yesterday and didn't say anything about mailing something down here_ , Sansa thought. She opened the envelope to find a gray card with orange and black butterflies across the front, blank inside except for her mother's swirling cursive handwriting.  
  
 _Sansa,_

_Just wanted to send a card to say how proud we all are of you. Rickon won't stop bragging about how his sister is going to be a lawyer, although I'm pretty sure he thinks it means you can get him out of trouble at university next year. I know this is a stressful time for you, so your Dad and I wanted to make sure you're taking care of yourself and you don't get too burnt out. Enclosed is a gift certificate for two months of unlimited yoga classes at Growing Strong yoga studio. The ladies in the women's rotary said it's a great stress reliever and Bran helped me on the computer to find a good studio near you. They've got great reviews online so I hope you'll get good use out of them. We're all rooting for you, Sansa._

_Love, Mom_

 

XxXxX  
  
Two days and a trip to Target later, Sansa found herself riding the Kings Landing Metro in cropped black yoga pants, a flowing baby blue tank top, with a brand new yoga mat leaning up against her seat and her long red hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Her hands were busily going through the small tote bag that Arya had allowed her to take with her. It wasn't big enough to hold any study materials and she'd been given strict rules by her little sister that while she was on the train she was only allowed to play games on her phone - real games, nothing to do with studying - or stare listlessly out the window.  
  
 _But ugh, I could study on the Metro, just sitting here is wasting valuable time. There's 24 usable hours in every day_. She let out a loud, decidedly unladylike groan, leaning her head against the window, attempting to 'stare listlessly' as she'd been instructed.  
  
She'd told Pod and Myrcella about the yoga classes when they came back with lunch and they'd both agreed wholeheartedly that it'd be good for her. She wasn't delusional, Sansa knew she was stressed out, and that combined with lack of sleep and a newfound appreciation of the convenience of Myrish takeout and copious amounts of energy drinks was making her, well... _A right proper bitch, if you asked Arya_ , she thought. Several time over the past few weeks her friends, as well as Arya and Gendry, had commented to her that she needed some down time, invited her out, or tried to get her to tag along on their preferred stress reduction method. She managed to find something unappealing about all of the suggestions they made. Arya asked her to go to Crossfit with her, which seemed a bit too hardcore, and Gendry had said she was more than welcome to come by the shop and he'd let her wrench on things, or take her out to the junk area and let her break a couple junker car windows with a baseball bat. Myrcella said Sansa was more than welcome to go rowing with her and she'd live a happy life if Pod never again invited her to the bars to go looking for girls - cheer them both up at the same time, as he'd grown accustomed to putting it. _I think I might like this yoga thing though_ , she decided as the train came to a creaky stop at the 15th Street station and she gathered her things. _It doesn't seem nearly as difficult as Arya's Crossfit addiction or as degrading as picking up drunken freshman girls... and if it sucks at least the clothes are cute. Still though, I hope I was right in picking the class I did._

 

When she'd searched on the Growing Strong website the day before, put in her passcode to cash in the gift certificate, and went about picking her first class, she was upset to see that the Beginner Yoga class was completely full. She clicked on a few other classes, ruled out some with 'experience recommended' in their descriptions, and finally clicked and signed herself up for Vinyasa I, since the little blurb stated that experience is not necessary.

 

The studio was a short walk from the station and she found the ground floor building easily. It was a warm gray building on the outside, with glass double doors and a large window across the front, allowing her to see inside. There were a few people standing around, waiting maybe, all wearing the same style of clothing as she was, so she was relieved that even if she was awful that at least she would look the part.

 

The girl at the front desk was friendly, asking her to leave her outside shoes in the small cubbies at the door before getting her signed in to the class. She told her where the restrooms were if she needed them and directed her to studio B, up the stairs one flight and on the left. The room was bright and airy, with more large windows overlooking the street front. There were a couple other people, but no one seemed to notice her, so she picked a spot in what she assumed was the back of the classroom and rolled out her mat, sitting down to start taking her socks off and silence her cell phone. The rest of the people were either lying down or stretching, and Sansa began to stretch as well, choosing imitation as the sincerest form of "I have no idea what in the seven hells I'm doing."

 

The room slowly began to fill up and her attention was first drawn away from stretching when a man with a headful of rambunctious curly dirty blonde hair, tight black knee length shorts, and a sleeveless shirt walked to the front of the room and began to close some of the curtains

 

"Loras, are you subbing for Margaery today?" Someone asked, a lady in front with a cropped black haircut and swirling blue patterns on her dark gray yoga mat.

 

"No, not today," he answered, walking back to the front of the room with a basket full of straps and an armful of foam blocks balanced on top of each other. "Although it would be a nice break from my bikram classes. Mags is just running a bit late, had to drop off some stuff at the bank, but she'll be here soon."

 

About five minutes later the room had filled almost to capacity and Sansa tried not to audibly groan when she heard the door open and close again, thinking there would be yet another person to shove in the full room.

 

"Good evening, class," a female voice greeted. It was soft, lilting and gentle, and Sansa was suddenly very much aware of the harsh tone her voice had taken on recently. _Seven save me_ , she swore under her breath when she turned her head to the center of the room and saw who she assumed was Margaery. She was barefoot and her footfalls made no noise as she walked to the front of the studio, but what caught Sansa's eye was her light brown, almost honey-colored hair that fell to her shoulders in large ringlets, with every so often a small braid wrapped with brightly colored thread split up the curls.

 

"So, before I start, I think I see some unfamiliar faces in class today. Is there anyone here that's never done yoga before?"

 

Sansa hesitated at first, but raised her hand and caught the teacher's eyes. She watched her walk over to right in front of her mat, and then she knelt down at the front of it. _Shit, she's even more gorgeous close up_ , Sansa thought, trying not to make it obvious that she was staring at her. _She's nothing like Lila_. And she wasn't. Where Lila had been the same height as she was, Margaery was shorter by a few inches, with a heart-shaped face, honey-brown eyes, and a face clean from any and all makeup. Lila had been tough as nails on the outside, but with an interior that had managed to warm even Catelyn Stark's heart after a couple meetings. But no, the woman in front of her, she could tell that her interior matched what was inside. She had a bit of quirkiness about her, she was a yoga teacher after all, but Sansa had to stop herself from gasping when she noticed that the entire left side of Margaery's head, hidden until she knelt in front of her, was buzzed probably as short as it could go. That, paired with the addition of a single nose ring in her right nostril and set of curving wooden earrings, and Sansa was trapped. Cards all in; hook, line, and sinker; the buck stopped there.

 

"What's your name?"

"S-Sansa Stark," she replied quickly, throwing her right hand out awkwardly in front of her.

 

"Well, Sansa Stark," she started, winking quickly at her and taking the hand that was offered, "welcome to class. I'm Margaery Tyrell. I know it's not the beginner class, but I think you'll do fine. Anything I should know about? Past injuries, that sort of thing." Sansa shook her head silently and watched Margaery smile and stand up. "Good. Now, just to remind everyone else, I won't be going through each asana in detail, so feel free to look around at the rest of the class or simply call out my name if you aren't sure. We're here to relax, we're here to get away from the outside influences, but we don't necessarily have to be quiet to too serious.

 

"Now, can everyone take a seated position at the top of your mat and close your eyes so we can start to focus our breathing. Three counts in, three counts out..."

 

Sansa scooted forward on her mat, sitting with her legs crossed and closed her eyes, letting her breathing normalize and listening to Margaery's guidance as well as her words for the day. It must've been the perfect day for Sansa to start coming to class. Margaery was talking about the stresses in her life, and everyone's lives, that albeit completely different, all have the unintended effect of taking our concentration away from the good things in our lives, what we want to be doing, and how to make ourselves truly happy... "The point of practice is to make ourselves teachable," she continued," to open our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are."

 

Once Margaery had prompted the class to open their eyes and come to standing, Sansa was already feeling more like herself, and had determined that she would take Margaery's words to heart, to make herself teachable, and to get the most out of practice. As the class continued, moving through a couple rounds of sun salutations, each gradually getting a little quicker, or at least more 'at your own pace', she started to feel pretty good about how she was doing. It definitely wasn't easy - she wasn't nearly flexible enough to grab on to her ankles in a forward fold like the guy in front of her could. She could feel her upper arms and core and was more shaky than she wanted to admit to when lowering herself to the floor in chaturanga dandasana, and it strained her calves trying to figure out how to position herself in downward-facing dog, at the same time as trying not to stare at Margaery's example at the front. _Gods help me, it should be a crime not to wear shorts that short when you've got an ass like that_ , Sansa thought. _No, no, no... concentrate! This class is not about how delicious your teacher looks in skintight volleyball shorts, or how badly you want to put your hands through her hair to feel the difference between the buzzed side and those lopsided curls. It's about enlightenment, Sansa, en-light-en-ment. Not how long it's been since I've gotten any. Not how much she smells like cloves and jasmine when she makes her rounds across the room_.

 

Any thoughts of Margaery's ass and how she, thank the Seven, didn't smell like patchouli faded away quickly when they moved away from the sun salutations and into some harder sequences of poses meant to get themselves warmed up for trying full backbend, Upward Bow as Margaery called it, before some stretches and then savasana.

 

"Hey! Sansa, right?" Margaery asked, reaching out and grabbing both of Sansa's hands. "Thank you so much for joining our class. It really was a pleasure having you here with us today."

 

"Yea? I mean, I probably did half the moves wrong... I'm sure I was a great show to watch for everyone," she replied, eyes flicking down for a second to where Margaery's hands held hers.

 

"Sansa," she started, letting out a sigh and shaking her head. Gods, I already love how she says my name, Sansa realized just before Margaery started talking again. "First, everyone comes to class with their own reasons and most are very much in their own little peaceful kingdoms, not paying any mind to you. Secondly, you did just fine for a first timer. Room for improvement, yes, but even those of us that have been practicing for years still have places for improvement. Thirdly, and most importantly, how do you feel?"

 

"Really... amazing," she replied, letting out a bit of a laugh, finally admitting to herself that even just an hour of what at first had seemed like stretching and some New Age bullshit had actually made her calm down and look past some of the stress and worries she carried around every day.

 

"You don't know how much it thrills me to hear that. You should keep coming to class, I can tell you'll love it, as I do."

 

"Well, I do have the two month unlimited pass...," she replied, smiling. "But I was wondering, do you have any free time today? I have some questions on some of the moves -"

 

"Asanas," she corrected, though not harshly.

 

"-- some of the asanas and was hoping you'd be open to helping. Since I plan on coming again and all," she added quickly.

 

"Of course I'll help you! What kind of instructor would I be if I didn't help to cultivate new students?" Margaery asked, guiding Sansa towards the door of the studio. Sansa could swear she felt Margaery's eyes on her, a once over, just maybe, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. "I do have another class though, in about fifteen minutes... the studio will be still open afterwards though, for self-guided practice. I'm sure we could just grab one of the empty rooms."

 

"Well, I don't have anything else to do tonight, so I'll definitely come back. I can just grab a seat at that one coffee shop I saw on my walk here."

 

Margaery walked her down to the lobby and told her when the next class ended, and Sansa spent the next hour and a half or so nervously trying to drink a milk tea while she played on her phone... anything to keep her mind off the prospect of being in an empty yoga studio with Margaery, sweating, not wearing hardly any clothes... _stop it, Sansa!_ She chided herself, and then noticed that the clock on her phone showed she had five minutes left. It was a quick walk back to the studio and when she arrived she found Margaery in the front lobby, waiting as the previous class' students grabbed their things and filed out.

 

Once everyone had left, Sansa followed Margaery up the flight of stairs, determined not to read too much into what was happening. It'd been forever since she could remember the last time she did anything spur of the moment, even as much as to include not coming straight home from yoga like she had planned. For all she knew, Margaery was being a diligent teacher. _It'd be unprofessional of her to be dismissive of students that want help_ , she told herself. _It's obvious she helps run the studio, so that'd just be bad business._

 

They got started quickly, both spreading out their mats next to each other in the empty room. The overhead lights were only turned on about halfway, and Sansa was thankful that it would block out any blushing she might do. Margaery guided her through a couple of sun salutations to warm up, and once they met in standing, she asked if there was anything in particular that Sansa felt she needed help with or was worried about.

 

"Umm, that one pose... the sort of lunge one with your arms out," Sansa answered, unsure of the actual name.

 

Margaery smiled. "I think you mean Warrior Two. No worries, we'll get you figured out. Lots of students are wobbly in Warrior Two until your body remembers how to position itself. Here, we'll go through another sun salutation, since you're getting better at that, and then once we're in down-dog, we'll bring our right leg up and then through between our hands to come up into the lunge, facing the mirror. I'll get up and help you then."

 

Sansa nodded, and followed Margaery's lead through the sun salutation. Once she was in her wobbly lunge position, Margaery rose and moved behind her, also going into a lunge. She flinched when she felt Margaery's hands run lightly up both of her arms.

 

"Arms up and out from your body, parallel to the floor," she explained, still running her hands along Sansa's arms, the underside this time. "You don't mind that I'm helping you do you? Sometimes it's just easier to move someone where you want them than to explain it."

 

Sansa tried to look back over her shoulder. Do I mind? Sweet mother, if I'd know the lesson was like this I'd have picked a different pose, she thought, and wanted to say. She'd wanted to be confident, like she used to be, like she'd been with Lila. It didn't happen.

 

"No... it's fine," she replied, barely above a whisper, but it was quiet in the studio, and Margaery must've heard her perfectly. She took her hands from Sansa's arms and moved them both to either side of her hips.

 

"Keep breathing regularly, you'll be fine. Now, tuck your tailbone under," she explained, helping guide Sansa into the asana properly. "It'll be difficult at first, but eventually you'll hold this asana for however long you want, no problems." Sansa nodded. "Now, last bit. Your gaze should be straight out, over your front arm, just gazing over the top of your fingers."

 

Sansa listened and looked out over her fingertips, staring intently at a spot on the wall in front of her, but soon she felt herself shaking, trying to stay upright.

 

"You've got this, Sansa," Margaery encouraged. "You're seriously doing awesome. Just a few more seconds.... done!"

 

At that, Sansa let herself plop down onto her yoga mat, in what was possibly one of the least poised or controlled movements of her life. "Oh gods, I don't know how I did that...," she said, shaking her head then removing the hair tie that kept her hair up in its bun. Margaery was now sitting down cross-legged next to her on the yoga mat. "I was just so afraid that I was going to fall. I can't remember the last time I felt my muscles shake that way."

 

Margaery reached out, brushing Sansa's hair away from her shoulders and placing both hands there, making sure she had her eye contact.

 

"Sansa, you can't be afraid. Your body can do so many great things if you give it the chance... There's actually a quote I heard somewhere, about yoga practice," she explained, and moved her left hand up, brushing some unruly hair back behind Sansa's right ear, but instead of moving her hand away, she kept it in place, almost cupping her cheek as she spoke again. “Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move. Move the way love makes you move."

 

Sansa was completely unsure if Margaery knew how the way she was acting was coming off, but she'd be damned if she didn't at least try something, something small to let her know she was interested. She glanced over for a split second to where Margaery's hand still was, then slowly leaned her face into it, setting her eyes on Margaery as she turned her head to press a kiss to Margaery's palm.

 

She watched as Margaery's eyes grew large and she knew they most likely matched her own. It took forever, or what seemed like forever, for Margaery to react. A few more seconds and Sansa would've been muttering out feverish apologies, leaving her mat on the floor, and never returning. That didn't happen.

 

She felt Margaery's hand move slowly at first, then before she knew it, she felt her slid it to the back of her head, hold on tightly, and pull her the remaining two feet over to kiss her properly, finally giving Sansa the opportunity to run her hands through Margaery's lopsided curls and buzzed hair, like she'd wanted to since she first saw her.

 

XxXxX

Later that evening...

 

Despite having to be up early the next morning, Arya was enjoying an evening of Sansa-free time at her apartment, joined by Gendry, shitty movies on Netflix, and pizza delivery from Kneeling Man. She knew Sansa was at yoga, thankfully taking advantage of the unlimited plan their mother had sent down to her. _Maybe it'll help her chill out a little bit_ , she hoped. After she'd realized what their mother's plan was and saw the letter, Arya even surprised herself and volunteered her time and Gendry's car to drive the ten miles to the outskirts of the city to go to Target and buy Sansa a yoga mat and some workout gear. Going clothes shopping with her sister was not exactly what her mind defined as a grand way to spend the afternoon, but she deemed it worthy if it helped Sansa become more like her old self.

 

"Shouldn't she have been back by now?" Gendry asked, returning from the kitchen and setting two bottles of Castle Black Brewery beer down on the table, then settling back into the couch. "It's almost ten... I thought her class was only from six to seven."

 

"No idea what's taking her damn long. Even when she's all crazy like this, she's still pretty good at being punctual," Arya answered. She grabbed another slice of pizza from the box and leaned back against Gendry on the couch, then turned her phone on for a second. "Nope, no texts. Oh well, not that I mind too much. I think we've got just about the perfect night-in. Not much that could ruin--"

 

Arya was cut off when the front door opened and a smiling Sansa walked in to the living room. She appeared to be the same Sansa that left hours ago, except this one was smiling and humming a tune which Arya recognized as some old Marina & The Diamonds song, carrying a plastic grocery bag in addition to her purse and yoga mat, and overall just seemed... _Happy? Care-free? Drugged?_ Arya couldn't quite put her finger on it.

 

It was Gendry who spoke first. "So, should we take it that your evening went well?"

 

"Oh yes, Gendry. It was amazing, thank you for asking," she replied, with a tone of softness that had absent from her voice for a long time. "Here," she paused, opening the plastic grocery bag and pushing two pints of ice cream across the table. "Figured you two love birds might want some dessert."

 

"Wow, Sans, that'd great," he commented tentatively, not used to her lack of snappiness. "I figured you'd come back maybe a little refreshed, but shit, what exactly happened in that class? Maybe I'll have to join you next time."

 

"...I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Sansa started shyly, first looking down at her feet, but when she raised her head she had an ear-to-ear grin the likes of which Arya hadn't seen grace her sister's face in forever. "You see, I met a girl there..."

 

"Oh, tell me more, tell me more!" Arya said in a sing-song voice, immediately mentally chastising herself for possibly pissing off Sansa.

 

Instead of showing that she picked up on Arya's sarcastic remark, Sansa surprised them both by simply laughing it off. "Gosh, Arya, that was a good one. Don't you remember how often we used to watch Grease? I think we wore out the VHS tape... come to think of it, we should've known then about your love for cars. You did always like the T-Birds the best." She smiled and gathered up her things again, grabbing some mail from the counter. "I'm beat, though. I'm gonna head to bed and leave you guys alone. Need to get my beauty sleep if I've got class again tomorrow."

 

They both turned around and looked over the back of the couch, watching Sansa walk down the hallway, continuing to hum, and then disappear into her bedroom, closing the door behind. Arya looked over at Gendry, staring for what seemed like forever. She'd known him for five years now and she knew how to tell what he was thinking, and right now it was the exact same as she was.

 

"Did that just happen?" Arya asked. "This is only my second beer. Please tell me I'm not already drunk and imagining that my just said she met a girl at her yoga class."

 

Gendry shook his head. "Unless we're both drunk then... but that was definitely your sister, and she was definitely acting love-struck. Hells Arya, she bought us ice-cream and called us love birds!"

 

Arya sat up, reached down to the middle shelf of the coffee table and pulled out her laptop. "You know, this smells oddly suspicious and I'm getting to the bottom of it." She opened the lid on the MacBook, opening up Skype and logging in.

 

"What do you mean it's suspicious? It's a yoga class. I'm sure it was probably 90% female and there's bound to be at least some cute girls there."

 

"That's not what I mean. The yoga was mom's idea, I'll give her that... but it was Bran that specifically picked out this studio. Sansa told me where it's at... it's all the way down on fucking 15th Street, Gendry! It might as well be in Dorne!"

 

Arya clicked on Bran's name, waited for him to answer, which he quickly did. She knew he was never far from his laptop.

 

"Gods, Arry, could you take a shower before you Skype me next time? Meera's gonna think I've got a homeless person for a sister." Meera, sitting next to Bran, gave a small wave.

 

She gave herself a quick once over, internally agreeing with Bran, but shook her head and continued. "Nice to see you too, Bran. I'd love to argue over my current state, but this is important. Sansa just got back from that yoga class and I don't know what's gotten into her. She's floating on fucking cloud nine... even said she met a girl there, and I've got a stinking feeling that I'm indebted to you for this good fortune."

 

"Sansa met her already? Shit, I thought I was doing her a solid just by picking this studio, but damn... Girl's got more game than I gave her credit for." Arya watched as Meera sat beside Bran, rolling her eyes at the smug look on his face.

 

"What do you mean? Met who already?"

 

"Here. See for yourself," Bran said, and a second later the website URL for the yoga studio popped up in the little Skype chatbox on Arya's screen, making a chime for a received message. "Click on the link for 'about the studio' and check out the owner. I'm sure you'll be thanking me for a while."

 

Playing along, Arya clicked the link that Bran sent and quickly found the 'about the studio' section of the page. What she was greeted with, aside from the actual couple paragraphs about the studio that she expected

 

"I accept thanks in the form of excellent birthday presents, iTunes gift cards, and of course--"

 

"Holy shit, Bran. Good job," Gendry said, interrupting. As soon as Arya had clicked on the 'about the studio' section, a large head shot appeared - a smiling picture of Margaery. Professionally photographed yet still looking somewhat casual, it showed off her eyes and the buzzed side of her head, with brown curls coming down over her other shoulder. Arya scrolled below and saw many pictures of the girl in what seemed to be very complicated poses.

 

A smile grew on Bran's face as he watched the stunned faces of Arya and Gendry on the computer screen.

 

"...so, tell me again," he began, crossing his arms, "Who's your favorite brother?"


End file.
